As the third week of fall quarter is wrapping up, the No. 15 Maroons head to the UAA Round Robin #2 this weekend. The team is coming off a solid performance at UAA Round Robin #1 in New York with wins against Rochester (11–10) and NYU (9–10). Their loss at the first Round Robin came against No. 1 WashU (17–1) in four sets bringing them to 2–1 in UAA conference play.
“Our team had a strong weekend. We played like a team, and played how we needed to play to beat Rochester and NYU. We knew WashU would be a tough match, and we played hard but lost 1–3. Hopefully this weekend, we will come out even stronger,” said first-year middle-blocker Sydney Majors when reflecting on Round Robin #1.
“I have a lot of respect for each team we will face this weekend…The UAA is a very strong conference nationally and it’s so awesome to be able to compete all of this great talent,” said fourth-year outside hitter Jasmine Mobley.
The Maroons are traveling to Cleveland, OH where their first match is against Case (18–4), the round robin host. Their other three conference matchups include foes Carnegie Mellon (19–4), Brandeis (3–16), and a much anticipated game against No.3 Emory (22–2).
These team’s records speak for themselves; three of the four have winning records, and Emory presents a particular challenge due to its high ranking. Case and Carnegie also sit just outside the top 25, with both teams receiving more than 30 votes in the latest AVCA Coaches poll.
Majors went on to say that, “This weekend we will be playing four matches, which is very tiring and requires a lot of mental and physical toughness. I think our team is prepared, and we especially have to be ready to play Emory in our fourth and final match. Also, just as last weekend, we will miss our amazing teammate, on and off the court, Brooke Watson. She has a concussion, but we know she will be cheering us on.”
Brooke Watson, first-year libero, will be out for what seems to be the rest of the season. The South Siders will be focusing on defense without her this weekend, and thought it may seem daunting to reorganize a team in the middle of the season, the Maroons still seem very confident in their ability to gets wins.
When asked about the key to success for this weekend, Mobley responded by saying, “I think that we as a team are in a great position! I think the key to our success this weekend is that each and every person holds herself to an incredibly high standard with each contact she takes–from warmups until the final match point.”
Personally, Mobley holds herself to these high standards and is looking forwards to the weekend. “I’m super excited heading into the second round of UAAs. We are a great team with a lot of talent; and some exciting competition awaits us this weekend. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to take the court and compete for our coaching staff, for my teammates, and for the university!”
It seems as if this weekend is going to be a great test of the Chicago squad against formidable opponents in their UAA foes. The Maroons open on Saturday against Case at 11:30 AM, followed by Carnegie Mellon at 1:30 PM. They will wrap up the Round Robin with two games on Sunday: Brandeis at 9:00 AM, and Emory at 1:00 PM.
